different between monstrous vs loathsome

English

Etymology

From Middle English monstrous, from Old French monstrueuse, monstrüos, from Latin m?nstr?sus. Compare monstruous.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?nst??s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?nst??s/
• Hyphenation: mon?strous

Adjective

monstrous (comparative more monstrous, superlative most monstrous)

1. Hideous or frightful.
2. Enormously large.

   a monstrous height
3. Freakish or grotesque.

   • The irregular and monstrous births

   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The rule and exercises of holy living

     He, therefore, that refuses to do good to them whom he is bound to love […] is unnatural and monstrous in his affections.

4. Of, or relating to a mythical monster; full of monsters.
5. (obsolete) Marvellous; exceedingly strange; fantastical.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:gigantic

Translations

Middle English

Adjective

monstrous

1. Alternative form of monstruous

English

Alternative forms

• loathesome

Etymology

From Middle English lothsum, from Old English *l?þsum, from Proto-West Germanic *laiþsam, equivalent to loath +? -some. Cognate with Middle Low German lêtsam (“arduous”), German leidsam (“sad, sorry”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l??ð.s?m/, /?l???.s?m/

Adjective

loathsome (comparative more loathsome, superlative most loathsome)

1. Highly offensive; abominable, sickening.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "loathsome" is often applied: disease, creature, thing, person, man, woman, dungeon, place, world, smell, act.

Derived terms

• loathsomely
• loathsomeness
• unloathsome

Translations

Further reading

• loathsome in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• loathsome in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• loathsome at OneLook Dictionary Search